underground nuclear facility. at this late hour there's only one way to peacefully prevent iran from getting atomic bombs. that's by placing a clear, red line on iran's nuclear weapons program. [ applause ] red lines don't lead to war. red lines prevent war. just look at nato's charter. it made clear that an attack on one member country would be considered an attack on all. nato's red line helped to keep the peace in europe for nearly half a century. president kennedy selt a red line during the cuban missile crisis. that red line also prevented war

and helped preserve the peace for decades. in fact, it's the failure to place red lines that's often invited aggression. if the western powers had drawn clear red lines during the 1930s, i believe they would have stopped nazi aggression and world war ii might have been avoided. in 1990, if saddam hussein had been clearly told that his conquest of kuwait would cross a red line, the first gulf war might have been avoided. clear red lines have also worked with iran. earlier this year iran threatened to close the strait of hormuz. the united states drew a clear red line, and iran backed off. now, red lines could be drawn in different parts of iran's

nuclear weapons program. to be credible a red line must be drawn first and foremost in one vital part of their program. on iran's efforts to enrich uranium. now, let me explain why. basically any bomb consists of explosive material and a mechanism to ignite it. the simplest example is gunpowder and a fuse. that is you light the fuse, and you set off the gunpowder. in the case of iran's plans to build a nuclear weapon, the gunpowder is enriched uranium. the fuse is a nuclear detonator. for iran amassing enough enriched uranium is far more difficult than producing the nuclear fuse. for a country like iran, it

takes many, many years to enrich uranium for a bomb. that requires thousands of centrifuges spinning in tandem in big, very big industrial plants. those iranian plants are visible, and they're still vulnerable. in contrast, iran could produce the nuclear detonator, the fuse, in a lot less time. maybe under a year. maybe only a few months. the detonator can be made in a small workshop the size of a classroom. it may be very difficult to find and target that workshop, especially in iran. that's a country that's bigger than france, germany, italy, and britain combined. the same is true for the small

facility in which they could assemble a warhead or nuclear device that could be placed in a container ship. chances are you won't find that facility either. so, in fact, the only way that you can incredibly prevent iran from up developing a nuclear weapon is to prevent iran from amassing enough enriched uranium for a bomb. how much enriched uranium do you need for a bomb? and how close is iran to getting it? let me show you. brought a diagram for you. here's a diagram. this is a bomb. this is a fuse. in the case of iran's nuclear plans to build a bomb, this bomb has to be filled with enough

enriched eyuranium. iran has to go through three stages. the first stage, they have to enrich enough low rich uranium. the second stage, they have to enrich enough medium enriched eyre uranium. the third and final stage, they have to enrich enough high enriched uranium for the first bomb. where is iran? iran's completed the first stage. took them many years, but they completed it and they're 70% of the way there. now they're well into the second sta stage, and by next spring at most by next summer at current enrichment rates they will have finished the medium enrichment and move on to the final stage. from there it's only a few

months, possibly a few weeks before they get enough enriched uranium for the first bomb. ladies and gentlemen, what i've told you now is not based on secret information. it's not based on military intelligence. it's based on the public reports of the international atomic energy agency. anybody can read them. they're online. so if these are the facts, if these are the facts, and they are, where should a red line be drawn? a red line should be drawn right he here. befo before, before iran completes the second stage of nuclear enrichment necessary to make a bomb. before iran gets to a point

where it's a few months away or few weeks away from amassing enough enriched uranium to make a nuclear weapon. now, each day that point is getting closer. that's why i speak today with such a sense of urgency, and that's why everyone should have a sense of urgency. now, there are some who claim that even if iran completes the enrichment process, even if it crosses that red line that i just drew, our intelligence agencies will know when and where iran will make the fuse, assemble the bomb and prepare the warhead. look, no one appreciates our intelligence agencies more than the prime minister of israel. all these leading intelligence

agencies are superb, including ours. they foiled many attacks. they've saved many lives. they are not foolproof. for over two years our intelligence agencies didn't know that iran was building a huge nuclear enrichment plant under a mountain. do we want to risk the security of the world on the assumption that we would find in time a small workshop in a country half the size of europe? ladies and gentlemen, the relevant question is not when iran will get the bomb. the relevant question is, at what stage can we no longer stop iran from getting the bomb. the red line must be drawn on iran's nuclear enrichment program because these enrichment facilities are the only nuclear

installations that we can definitely see and credibly target. i believe that faced with a clear red line iran will back down. this will give more time for sanctions and diplomacy to convince iran to dismantle its nuclear weapons program altogether. two days ago from this podium, president obama reiterated that the threat of a nuclear-armed iran cannot be contained. i very much appreciate the president's position, as does everyone in my country. we share the goal of stopping iran's nuclear weapons program. this goal unites the people of israel, it unites americans, democrats and republicans alike, and it is shared by important leaders throughout the world. what i have said today will help

ensure that this common goal is achieved. le israel is in discussions with the united states over this issue, and i'm confident we can chart a path forward together. ladies and gentlemen, the clash between it need not be a clash between progress and tradition. the traditions of the jewish people go back thousands of years. they're the source of our collective values, the foundations of our national strength. at the same time the jewish people have always looked towards the future. throughout history we've been at the forefront of efforts to expand liberty, promote equality, and advance human rights. we championed these principles not in spite of our traditions

but because of them. we hid the words of the jewish prophets isaiah, a moss sxwrar mya to treat all with dignity and compassion, to pursue justice and life, and to strive for peace. these are the timeless values of my people, and these are the greatest gift to mankind. let us commit ourselves today to defend these values so we can defend our freedoms and protect our common civilization. thank you. [ applause ] israel's prime minister been ya minimum netanyahu is concludes his speak drawing a red line as we talked so much about in an illustration in a diagram he just brought in. jim frederick is international

reporter for ti"time" magazine. bibi said the hour is getting late, very late. he pulled out a diagram and talked about iran's uranium enrichment program. is he saying it's time to target, to bomb those facilities? he said they're vulnerable and they're able to see. what does he mean the action should be now that there's a literal red line that he's drawn on this dry gram? >> clearly what he marked out was second stage uranium enrichment. his time line that that processing will be done sometime next spring or summer at the latest. >> according to information they've obtained? >> right. according to netanyahu. it sounds like until that time that is the threat that unless diplomacy and sanctions work, up until that time, sounds to me like he is definitely reserving the right to bomb facilities after that point. >> you mentioned sanctions.

the prime minister said that under the obama administration strong sanctions have been put into place, and to date they have worked affecting the economy of iran. he said they've not stopped in deterring the nuclear program that that country is pursuing. he spent much of the speech setting the stage, talking about iranian aggression saying this is what we've seen in iran where they've turned on their own people without a nuclear weapon. what can the world expect if iran is able to obtain a nuclear weapon? an interesting note. he said in his remarks the middle east, europe and america would not be safe. >> yes. this presupposes that iran is not a rational actor or is sometimes described as death call. it's not clear. we've gone through this. i don't know if you were in the late 1990s and early 2000s we went through the same rhetoric with north korea.

it it was unthinkable. the world would go through no effort and they couldn't trust them with a bomb, south korea could be destroyed although the touch the button. president clinton said north korea will never use that bomb, because if they do, it will be the end of north korea. netanyahu is clear about the repur repercussions would be for iran if it continues to pursue enrichment. other than a lot of rhetoric, it's not clear what would happen, if it's already too late. if iran, in fact, does possess or does soon possess a nuclear weapon. >> obviously, you have mr mr. netanyahu referring to mahmoud ahmadinejad's speech earlier before the u.n. the same rhetoric we heard. a call for the destruction and elimination of israel. israel says there's an imminent threat. there's not an agreement in the country to what iran will do and about iran. we have factors put into place here. we're in a general election, and we have governor romney attempting to use the

president's words against him regarding israel. i think it is important to note that benjamin netanyahu said under the obama administration these strict sanctions were pult into place, and they have worked. praising, if you will, the obama administration. with all of that said, his speech boiled down to, there's an imminent threat. he compared it to the holocaust as well, and he believes that action must be taken within the next year it sounds. >> yeah. it will be interesting to see in the text day or two how the obama administration responds. we knew this red line speech was coming. we knew that the obama administration and netanyahu specifically did not agree necessarily on the future actions to take. it's been abundantly clear obama has not appreciated having his hand forced by netanyahu. netanyahu has absolutely realized that this is an election season, has been accused probably rightly so of manipulating certain parts of u.s. election system to what he

perceives to be his benefit. now that we know what the netanyahu red line is, it will be interesting to see how the obama administration responds, whether or not it agrees. i have a sense that they will not appreciate having been forced into do you agree with this red line? do you not agree? it's interesting to see what the white house does. >> thank you very much, jim. it's a pleasure to have your analysis. thank you. we have more breaking news we're following. the liberal website, "mother jones," the same website na posted the romney comment, they've posted a new video of governor romney from when he was the ceo of bain capital back in 1985. nbc news has not been able to determine whether this latest video has been edited, but in you clearly hear governor romney, who, of course, has run for president on his business background as a job creator describing his firm's vision. >> bain capital is an investment partnership, which was formed to

invest in startup companies and ongoing companies, then to take an active hand in managing them and hopefully five to eight years later to harvest them at a significant profit. >> the romney campaign also released a statement saying, quote, in addition to starting new businesses, mitt romney helped build bain capital bill turning around broken companies. the problem today is that president obama hasn't been able to turn around our economy in the same way. let's bring in mark mckinnon is chris cofinus. mark, this tape comes out the same day the obama cap pain released a new ad hitting that 47% comment romney made behind closed doors. in this bain capital clip -- we don't know if it's edited or see the entire tape himself. he's talking about his company and harvesting the profits.

not about creating jobs or saving jobs. mark. >> yeah. well, this is another in a series of events that don't make up for a good week or two for the romney campaign. this strikes me as an issue that's deeper and more problematic in some ways because the whole issue of bain and what bain means and the whole concept of private equity is a debate that i think should be -- that should have been had a long time ago in the campaign. i would liked to have seen the romney campaign put that issue forward rather than waiting for it to be taken on later in the campaign when they don't have an opportunity to talk about job creation and what private equity is on their own terms. rather, they do it late in the campaign in a defensive posture, which is problematic. >> mark, is that the reason that the conversation was avoided? we heard so many times that governor romney would describe bain and his role there and the

value of that company. we know it's private equities. we know how that game works, at least to some degree. none of us are wall street men and women in the conversation, but we know the realities of private equity. is this tape or some of the vision for bain capital the very reason we didn't hear him solidly defend that record because his vision was to harvest the profits of some of these companies they went in? >> well, i don't think we really know the reality, because we haven't had the longer discussion. we have a perception about them very shorthanded as mitt romney was doing in that tape. he was shorthanding what parlt of their business objective is. as part of that business objective, they saved weak companies. by saving weak companies, those companies didn't go out of business. they did, in fact, save lots of jobs that probably would have -- that would have been lost because of companies would have gone under because they didn't have somebody come in and put them together and help save the

jobs, shld build the companies and create profits at the same time. now we're talking about the profits for bain. >> we're talking about the governor's latest comments on health care. let me play what he said in a recent interview with one of my nbc colleagues. >> don't forget, i got everybody in my state insured. 100% of my kids in hi state have health shurnts. i don't think there's anything that shows more empathy and care about the people of this country than that record. obama care is exhibit number 1 of the president's political philosophy, and that is that government knows better than people how to run their lives. >> what you saw there, chris, this is the interview with my colleague ron mott right before an event in ohio. you have behind the scenes governor romney saying that this is an example of his empathy, that universal health care in massachusetts. he goes on the stage and says something completely different. >> well, i mean, he's clearly a

tortured candidate when it comes to his positions. when you look at his record when he was governor of massachusetts, he was a more moderate republican. he moved to a far right to win the nomination. he's been paralyzed by that necessity to appease the far right of the republican party. you have this now dilemma going into in the last 40 sore so days of the election. his message hasn't worked and he's come across because of the 40% video. this new video is cold and indifferent to the flight of hard-working people. so now he's trying to show an elm pathetic side that contradicts his earlier positions and statements. it's not a good place for any candidate at this time of the election. it's a really big problem for the romney campaign. >> does it speak to the problem that you saw coming early in in that romney had to take a

certain stance it to win the republican primary? a lot of people expected him to move at least somewhat to the center on issues perhaps not health care, because that is something we've heard as a rallying cry for many republicans, repeal obama care. here we are 40 days out, and he uses this as an example, universal health care when he was governor as a badge of honor, but he would want to strip it from everyone else in this did you nocountry. >> it's a broader, larger problem which is pretty simple. i think you put your finger on it. i believe in his heart mitt romney is much more the person he was when he was governor. he's much more a person in the vain of his father. i think he's a transactional guy and understands how to achieve results. part of achieving results in the political framework, he looked at the republican primary and realized he wouldn't win unless he had an adapted message to that particularly conservative

audience in the primaries, and that's what happened. the problem in the larger context it appears transactional and inauthentic. >> let's talk about the polls out right now. you have president obama up in a number of battleground states. we know that is far more significance than perhaps looking the national polling out there. mark, i want to play a number of republicans and conserve tifs are saying about the polls themselves. let's play it. >> are these polls dishonest? >> no. look, we endow them with a false scientific precision they simply don't have. >> these polls, i don't pay attention to them. it depends when you ask and how you ask and what the sample is. >> all of these polls are assuming a very high turnout among afterwardsrican-americans latinos and young people. that produces a skew that makes them vastly more democratic than the actual sample is. >> we know a lot can change and

we debates coming up. do you believe those men i just showed believe a word of what they said? >> they have a job, and their job is to paint the best picture possible. >> na means no, right? they don't believe anything they're saying, right? >> i believe they're putting the best face possible on it. that's their job. >> i agree with that. that's their job. trying to put the best face forward, mark. it's interesting. there was a conversation last night, though, in trying to spin the poll numbers, there needs to be more conversation on this campaign and what appears to be -- i don't want to use the word debacle, but anything can change, but perhaps the mismanagement. joe scarborough was laughing out loud on air on mitt romney's response when the crowd chanted ryan as opposed to ryan/romney, mark. >> when things go bad they go

bad with increasing frequency. in september of 2000, we had a series of events like this and mishaps and everyone thought we should be fired, and then we went into the debates and went from 3 down to 3 up. stuff happens. politics is interesting. >> stuff happens. we're both from texas. >> we have six weeks left, tamron. >> i'm about keeping it hot and interesting, but i have to keep it real. based in reality, and i don't know if that's the case right now. >> mark is right. i think this is one of the things that concerns me about this election. this is not like 2008 where it was clear especially after the financial crisis that president obama or then senator obama was in a position to win that election. right now he's in a strong position. governor romney's campaign is clearly flailing, but there is still a lot of uncertainty underneath these numbers. i'm just being honest, because i think democrats need to keep that perspective. if governor romney does well in the debate -- i don't know he will, but if he does that's a

turning point. there's an enormous amount of time left in the election. democrats and the bahama campaign dish democrats need to keep their eye on the ball. this election is not over contrary to what polls may say. >> absolutely. it is not over, which is why it's so fascinating so much time is spent on allegations that the polls are inaccurate as opposed to conversations lending help to the romney campaign if it can be helped at this point coming up with a list of loopholes to close. that's just one thing. let me bring to the conversation quinton kidd, he's a political science professor in virginia. thank you so much for your time. we have romney and obama in virginia right now. we have this segment called purple rain for a rain. it's solidly purple, and this is an interesting race for many reasons in virginia. what are you watching? >> the problem in virginia for the romney campaign is they're on the defensive on all the

issues, on the economy, women's issues, national security, all of issues that are important they're on the defensive right now. they don't have an issue opening to press the obama campaign on in virginia. they're behind on the economy, which was supposed to be president obama's weakness. so i think they're really in trouble in virginia. we've seen a slip on the part of the romney campaign since the convention, so whatever that convention bounces, it turned into a convention slide in virginia. we have a series of polls out now that show the gap widening between obama and romney. i think the romney campaign needs to find an opening, a gap to shoot in virginia on that issue. they need to press that gap. >> it's interesting you say that the spokesperson for the rnc in saz said obviously in 2008 we got our clock cleaned here and got caught flat foolted. we're just casting a real wide net in virginia.

what do you make of that statement, professor? >> well, it may be a wide net, but it's not capturing anything. in the latest swing state poll, they're behind on every issue. i mean, the number one issue that the romney campaign was going to press against obama they're behind on, the economy. they're behind on national security. they're behind on dealing with the international crises. this is a state with a huge military presence, and they're behind on two issues. i don't know what they're doing, and i think that's the problem. i don't know that people, the voters know what they're doing. they don't hear a consistent message from the romney campaign. >> thank you so much for your time. mark, let me bring you back in real quick. romney was talking about the military and his commitment. he says as commander in chief i can stand with you and say we won't shrink our military commitment. to the professor's point, talking about the military, defense spending and these issues into the budget as

opposed to getting back on the economy in that state. >> well, missouri is a very conservative state. it's surprising that that senate race there is even close. it just testifying to how conservative it is. >> you're welcome. take care. >> i think romney is looking for a message that appeals to that particular constituency in missouri. he's been on an economic message for a long time, and i think he should stay on that. he's finding an appeal to the professor's pint. they haven't won without virginia, florida and ohio. maybe he needs a 50% tax cut specifically for virginians. >> that would certainly bring in some votes, perhaps he wouldn't be able to keep that promise. >> may not be constitutional, but that's what he needs. >> i'm not sure that goes far enough to help them in virginia right now. >> a little trash talk from chris. coming up next -- >> if i could sit down with you

in your living room or around the kitchen table, here's what i'd say. >> is the president -- is that his closing argument with with just 40 days left? many say what you're looking about the president's closing argumen arguments. 30 states have early votes under way. the nfl ref debacle is over, but now airline passengers are experiencing unnecessary roughness due to a labor dispute between american airlines and its pilots. american firing a warning shot today in this dispute. join the kovrgs wiconversation twitter page. customer erin swenson bought from us online today. so, i'm happy. sales go up... i'm happy.

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the nfl's regular referees will be back on the fields in a few hours when the browns take on the ravens. the league and it's 121 locked-out officials reached a tentative deal late last night. roger goodell was asked whether the deal was prompted by outrage over monday night he's blown call that caused the packers their victory over the seahawks. >> it helped to push it to the point where we were -- got the agreement that we really needed to get and kept us in there. i think there was a real pressure, i think, for everyone to get the officials back on the field this weekend. >> under the tentative eight-year deal, the refs get most of what they wanted. their pension plan is intact for the next four years. average salaries to $135,000 a year to. the you've been fired up about it. i heard you all morning long on

a tear about this. did it come down to the fans and that awful call -- well, one of a couple of awful calls we watched, dave? >> one way to describe it that makes it very clear. as of monday morning the nfl was offeri offering bup kiss to the referees and they were begging them to come to the table. one play he crystallized for the entire nfl universe the problem. it took 70,000 phone calls to the nfl offices, 1 million tweets concerned by the president of the darn united states not to mention the mayor of green bay and the concern for the union by the most anti-union politician in the united states, governor scott walker of wisconsin. that's all it took to move the owners to the negotiating table. >> you talk about the president. jay carney earlier today said the president's reaction was they're pleased the two sides

came together and ensure they're going forward when we watch the favorite teams play in the nfl. how ironic the ravens play tonight with the regular refs because in, and it was one of their games in question. >> it was the sunday night game, which before monday night was the topic of the conversation. what happened on sunday night cannot be said on your wonderful family program, but it involved 70,000 fans in unison for a solid minute chanting profanity at the official. it involved the new england coach, bill belichick, physically trying to grab one of the officials. i have it on good authority from a source inside the nfl who said to me that one of their great concerns is all this anger will spill overonto the field and you might see a player or coach actually take a swing at one of these overmatched, undertrained scab yefres. >> costas said on the "today" show he was concerned about the safety, if one call went against the home team, who would

somebody with too many beers react to all of this? the bolt tom line is the amount of money the nfl brings in. the tv deals and merchandise. it goes on and on and on. why did it get to this point over what seemed like a reachable agreement all along? >> this could have been settled for the price of a 30-second super bowl ad. >> what happened? >> what happened is simply. this is by ideology and not about economy. there have been four lockouts in the last year. two in the nfl, the nba and now nhl players. in each lockout the owners have hired the same law firm with the same negotiators. this is about a legal strategy, a labor management strategy that i would argue has seeped over from the larger business world that somehow sees a lockout, which used to be the considered the third rail of bargaining as an acceptable tamtics. it is highlighted for the country, the gap between skilled

union labor and unskilled nonunion labor for everybody to see. i hope people in wisconsin are going to ask scott walkers why skilled union labor good enough for nfl officials but not good enough for firefighters and teachers in the state of wisconsin. >> i'll see how happy you are about the regular refs that call something you don't like. we'll see. >> i'll be cheering for the first call, but i can't promise the second. >> as one labor dispute ends, another one involving american airlines is heating up. the company is telling pilots to end suspected flight slowdowns r or they'll take the union to court. american is accusing the pilots of staging sick-ins and writing up unnecessary repairs. the union is denying all of that, by the way. the impact is real. so far this week alone 57% of american flights arrived on time compared to last september, the number at 82% arrival. today the spokesperson said the

pilots are inflicting economic damage on the company, frustrating and alienating our customers and drives unnecessary work for other employees. one angry flyer agreed. flight delayed with the prospect of missing one flight a day to st. lucia is not a good start to the honeymoon. we need some lawmakers and other people to get involved in this, and maybe they can clean this up like the ref situation in the nfl, tom. >> 70,000 fans at giants stadium should do it, i would imagine. it's been more than a week that american flights have been significantly delayed. the airline blaming this on in the jump on sick callouts. something like a broken coffeepot or ripped seat. the pilot's union insists there's no organized effort under way, but the airline says it's go to ask a court to sper convenient and you asked why.

look at the numbers this week. out of 7500 scheduled flights so far this week, 43% have already been delayed this week, 18% of those accessibly delayed, 9% canceled and now the airline may ask the court to issue an injunction against any pilot action. here's what they tell nbc news. quote, we do not want to pursue a legal remedy, but we're left with little alternative if the pilot's union does not take action to stop these pilots intentionally harming the operation. the dispute of the pilots has to do with the new working conditions that the airline forced onto pilots after they rejected a new contract offer. american is in bankruptcy. it insists its costs are way out of line compared to competitors. the pilots are clearly unhappy. the pilots also say the real problem is there's too few pilots and by the way american is flying the oldest planes, the

oldest fleet in the country. that's true. what are customers to do? some travel experts say you should avoid flying american until this is resolved. p if you fly american you rusk getting stuck somewhere or arrive the late. >> tom, we'll talk with you as early as tomorrow on this one. thanks, tom. the obama campaign is out with a new ad where the president looks into the camera and seems to be making a closing argument to the voters out there. >> during the last weeks of this campaign, there will be debates, speeches and more ads. if i could sit down with you in your living room or around the kitchen table, here's what i'd say. when i took office, we were losing nearly 800,000 jobs a month and were mired in iraq. today i believe as a nation we are moving forward again. >> nbc's first read makes the point about this ad. they say this new obama spot has the feeling of a closing tv ad 10 days out from an election day

because the obama camp believes we're ten days out or already there. mark murray joins me from washington. it's interesting, president obama described former president clinton as the commander in chief of explaining stuff or something. you get that feel with in closing ad. you and your team point out that so many states already are in the process of early voting and we'll have even more at end of next week. >> we're 40 days from election day, and that ad that president obama is playing, a two-minute ad is an ad you almost play a week out before election date. the obama campaign is treating this like a week out before election day because precisely all this early voting. 30 states across the country, voters in those states are voting in some form or fashion, whether it's absentee or early in person. that includes in the battleground states of iowa, north carolina, new hampshire, wisconsin and virginia. tamron, next week ohio and

florida start voting in some form or fashion. voting is under way, even though election day is 40 days from now. >> you talk about some stap states. we have maps built in to give people a glimpse of nationwide how many states are in the process of early voting. we have the map. some of them at the end of the week, but mark, is there anything to compare this to at least from the last general election? >> well, in the last general election we also saw a lot of early voting in a lot of states. some states scaled back a little bit on the early voting, but i think it's here to stay going forward. what's interesting is the obama campaign saw early voting as a way to maximize their folks and bank the votes on their side. for example, when president obama is in ohio yesterday, he told everyone be sure to vote as early as october 2nd when you can start voting early in ohio. they want their folks to already start casting balance the lots

in early october. >> the question wasn't about early votes here to stay. voting next weeks, ohio, florida, nebraska, new york, connecticut, some of the states. the strategy of having this comfortable, closing arguments, i don't recall this from either candidate at this point? >> you see two different philosophies from the campaigns. you have president obama's campaign team that seems like right now this is election day. let's start to get people out to the polls and get it done. the romney campaign says this thing isn't over. polls go up and down. they bank on november 6th when everyone is going to vote, but the romney folks did a good job with absentee voting and early voting in the primary season. we'll see if that carries over to the general election. >> a lot of moving parts. thank you very much. a new report says democrats may have largely neutralized the once fear voter i.d. laws to be hurtful to the party during the

election. perry bacon will join me live to talk about that new report next. [ female announcer ] ordinary lotions aren't made to treat eczema, so it can feel like you're using nothing at all. but neosporin® eczema essentials™ is different. its multi-action formula restores visibly healthier skin in 3 days. neosporin® eczema essentials™.

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[ sigh of relief ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego. pregnant women exposed to air pollution may put their unborn child at risk for vitamin d deficiency. data shows newborns exposed to air pollution through mothers had a higher risk for vitamin d deficiencies than those not exposed. it was strongest when exposure occurred during the third trimester. welcome back. activist groups and democrats have largely neutralized efforts to disenfranchise millions of voters across the country with new laws at the polls. in pennsylvania a judge decided not to rule today on whether did

y to block it. the judge is facing an early october deadline for a ruling. let's bring in perry bacon. perry, let me point out the activists have said or pointded out they believed this would disenfranchise millions of voters. the bottom line in your report is some of these concerns sparked activist groups to take action and they may have put the co-bash for lack of a better word on some of the voter i.d. laws or have they amended. >> you've seen over the last year republicans pass a lot of voter laws. they were designed to change the voting laws in ways democrats thought were discriminatory. democratic groups, liberal groups and naacp in a lot of states went to court to dispute the laws. in texas, ohio, florida and wisconsin the liberal groups have won and they got the laws struck down in court. these laws in a lot of places

won't go into effect sxwoent be enforced. pennsylvania may do the same thing next week. >> there's interesting polling out there. "washington post" asked the question should voighter i.d. be required at the polls? 74% said yes. a couple other polls out of pennsylvania showed people in that state supported voter i.d. laws. so how do you jive all of that or gel that with what you're hearing from activists to what people say in the polling? >> it's spridzing. even on these polls democrat support the edeals. the general idea -- it seems logical when you're asked in the poll should someone have an i.d. to vote. the answer is yes, in the same way to get on a plane. when you break down the numbers, african-americans and elderly people both black and white and other races as well tend not to have driver's license in a lot of states. you end up finding the people having the hardest time being

able to register to vote in pennsylvania are 90 years old and voted a burchl of times and we put up a roadblock. that's why the laws are so controversial. >> to your point when people are asked the question should it be required, you need an i.d. to get on a plane. what's not factored into the question and chris matthews did a great job on this who described in great detail what the process was like in pennsylvania for one person. it took around four hours to get an i.d. imagine if you're an 80-year-old or person working a couple of jobs and you have to carve this out and never been required to do this before and always voted responsibly. >> what the courts have generally found what you said. the republicans argue there's a big voter fraud problem and we need these laws. with these courts even republican judges have said, we don't see a voter fraud problem that exists, and we certainly don't stee one that exists in the way we should make

90-year-olds spend so much time getting new voting applications to vote. it's not a big enough problems to justify the new laws and rule against them. >> perry bacon, thank you for your time. >> thanks, tamron. up next is the gut check. another labor dispute. we're up next. you'll also find us in person, with dedicated support teams at over 500 branches nationwide. so when you call or visit, you can ask for a name you know. because personal service starts with a real person. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our support teams are nearby, ready to help. it's no wonder so many investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade.

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time for the gut check. we told you about american airlines accusing its pilots of slowing down passengers after a sudden increase of late and canceled flights. the pilots union denies the allegation. they blame the problem on a shortage of pilots and old planes. the next labor dispute just as the nfl refu situation is behin us. what does your gut tell us? are american airlines pilots helping or hurting their case? go to facebook.com/newsnation to

vote. that does it for "news nation." i'm tamron hall. "the cycle" is up next. ♪ ♪ fly by night away from here ♪ ♪ change my life again ♪ ♪ fly by night, goodbye my dear ♪ ♪ my ship isn't coming ♪ and i just can't pretend oww! ♪ [ male announcer ] careful, you're no longer invisible in a midsize sedan. the volkswagen passat. the 2012 motor trend car of the year. that's the power of german engineering. the 2012 motor trend car of the year. one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream.

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new nectresse. sweetness naturally. i'm krystal ball. the nfl refs are back. it's a field of dreams for millions of football fans and political fans, too. >> on the campaign trail today a field of screams. president obama and mitt romney both fighting to be heard today. >> i'm s.e. cupp. four years ago it was about the financial crisis. >> i'm toure, and vulnerability scares me. today we'll have a frank talk about vulnerability. i feel scared already. >> all that plus talk about putting yourself out there. i'll show you the precise moment when mitt romney lost the presidential camcampaign, and i not what you think. you're in